Tuesday, 1 November 2005
289d

Decomposition of Ethylene Carbonate during the Vacuum-Distillation with Residual Ionic Liquid-Based Zinc Tetrahalide Catalysts

Hoon Sik Kim1, Palgunadi Jelliarko2, Je Seung Lee2, So Young Lee2, Honggon Kim2, Sang Deuk Lee2, and Byoung Sung Ahn2. (1) Dept. of Chemistry, Kyung Hee University, 1 Hoegidong, Dongdaemoongu, Seoul 130-701, South Korea, (2) Environment and Process Technology Division, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Hawolgokdong 39-1, Seongbukgu, Seoul 139-791, South Korea

Ionic liquid-based zinc tetrahalide complexes have been found catalytically highly active for the coupling reactions of ethylene oxide (EO) and carbon dioxide to produce ethylene carbonate (EC) and successfully adopted in an environmentally benign continuous process using a jet-loop reactor. However, the zinc tetrahalide complexes were found to cause the decomposition of EC into EO and CO2 during the vacuum-distillation of the product mixture. Various possible factors affecting the EC decomposition were evaluated, and the concentration of zinc tetrahalide species was found most responsible for the decomposition: the lower its concentration, the less the decomposition. The addition of imidazolium halide or ammonium halide was found effective for remarkably enhancing the activity of the zinc tetrahalide complex to produce EC while having only a negligible effect on the EC decomposition rate. Optimal catalyst composition and concentration have been discussed for producing high yields of EC with the minimized EC decomposition during separation and purification.


Web Page: greenchem.kist.re.kr

See more of #289 - Poster Session: Kinetics, Catalysis and Reaction Engineering (20022)
See more of Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Division

See more of The 2005 Annual Meeting (Cincinnati, OH)